Cowan v. State

Defendant and a companion were arrested for burglary, handcuffed and left unattended in the rear seat of a police car. No one else was present, but a video monitor recorded them.

At trial the prosecution sought to admit excerpts of the recording. The state attorney contended that the companion could be understood as saying to defendant: “Damn, you think they caught us for the home invasion, home burglary?” and “Hey, we did not leave anything in there?” The prosecution argued that defendant’s lips seemed to be moving, that he appeared to say: “They’ve got it. They’ve got it.”1

Defendant…